Broken Destiny
by Snake99a
Summary: Sasuke brings Sakura with him, what will the repercussions be on our Blonde hero? Considerably darker Naruto that will slowly be brought back to the light. He will be more powerful then canon and Sakura will not be useless.The story will attempt to follow canon with the new change might have a lot of changes etc. Pairings will be made as I write it R AND R please and enjoy
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: It has been quite a while since I've done fanfiction and I missed it so I decided to try again **____** Hope you like the story and what not, and for the genre, well who cares the story will be long and good ^^ any questions just PM me and for god sake please PLEASE READ AND REVIEW it is what will make me want to keep writing so if you want me to bust em out give me some feed back **____** happy reading fanfictioners**_

It was a considerably cold and dark night out in Konoha, at one of the many small exits out of the village, the last Uchiha hailed as a prodigy in the village, was about to defect from the hidden leaves for the power that Orochimaru can grant him, if he was to be trained by a Sannin then he would be able to destroy his traitorous brother and definitely stay miles ahead of that pathetic dobe…yet he couldn't get the fact that Naruto Uzumaki, dead last of the academy and the complete inferior to himself had saved him from Gaara, an opponent that he himself could not defeat and even went on to summon a boss toad and ward off a bijuu, where the hell did he get such power? Now our soon to be traitor was being held up by the other link of Team 7. His pink-haired comrade although quite the looker, was on the weak side and was always in need of help from either him or Naruto. Her constant advances on him could be seen as charming but he disregarded it. In another reality he might have paid more attention to the 'kunochi' but not in this one, he had a higher righteous purpose then squabbling in Konoha with pretty girls.

"Sakura…what are you doing out in the middle of the night?" I can't let her cause any dramas to ruin my escape. Sakura had tears beginning to well up in her eyes " This is the road people use to leave the village" she wipes her eyes and continues " its always this road" Sasuke had gradually walked past her and replied " Go back to bed Sakura" he couldn't deal with this right now, he needed to leave and he needed to leave now! " Sasuke, we had fun! Me…and you…and even Naruto as well as Kakashi-sensei! We went on missions and trained…"

He stopped looking down and began gazing at the moon " Sakura, I am different to you and the rookie 11 as well as Kakashi-sensei… my path resides in the darkness, my path is one of blood, sweat and tears that will finally end with my brother on the other end of my righteous fury" he paused for breath and reluctantly added " The only one in this village that can possibly fathom the need for revenge and despair of loneliness that I have is…" Sakura waited with baited breath while Sasuke realized telling Sakura was pointless " it doesn't matter, go home Sakura you have your whole life ahead of you" Sakura began to spill tears in despair, the boy she had fallen for was about to leave her!

" NO SASUKE! Please you can't leave me, you will be leaving me to the same loneliness…please I love you… take me with you, a village without you is a place I can't bear to be in" She finished while sobbing. Sasuke kept staring up at the moon and debating whether he should bring his teammate, he knew it would make things a bit harder but did he really want to stay truly lonely on the path to his brother's destruction? Yet then again what about Naruto…he may not admit it out loud but Naruto was the only true friend he had ever had and they both understood one another even at a young age. For this reason he knew both he and Sakura leaving would crush Naruto and leave him to wallow in the darkness, like either of them needed anymore of that. Naruto would bounce back like he always did…but did he really bounce back? Or did he just keep it bottled up like he himself did.

"Sakura…" She looked up with tears still leaking and walked feebly closer towards Sasuke as he continued " and what of Naruto?" this made her stop…she never thought of her knuckled-headed teammate. He might have seemed annoying and stupid back in the academy, but now she knew different. He was a brave and undeniably strong shinobi. He was a bright light that shone through the village, through thick and thin he was reliable and strode through adversity. Even Sasuke had admitted to her that Naruto saved them from the possessed suna-shinobi that could manipulate sand to immense levels. She could never quite fully understand Naruto, she thought she figured him out but he constantly forced her to reevaluate what she knew about him, that doesn't matter right now what matters is staying with Sasuke.

" Naruto is strong he will be fine!" she said it but did she really mean it? Sasuke now fully turned around to look at his teammate and maybe soon to be fellow nuke-nin with narrowed eyes " Sakura, you don't understand…maybe you never will, Naruto has been alone his entire life, he grew up with no one and has never had the experience of family until team 7"

This made Sakura's eyes widen as Sasuke continued " We are essentially his only family, me leaving may hurt him, but him and I are rivals, me leaving will be a drive for him to become strong just as me needing to leave will make me strong. You coming with me will be like his family being ripped away from him" he let that hang for suspense; maybe this will make her stay? If her resolve can be stopped by words then she isn't fit to follow me " You have family and friends to hold you up fine in this village Sakura, Naruto only has team 7-" suddenly Sakura burst in " Naruto has Lady Tsunade-the Fifth Hokage is like a mother to him!" she again didn't feel so certain of herself, which was then cemented when Sasuke put in " The Hokage has duty towards the village, she can support Naruto only so much…"

He could slowly see the information swirling in his pink-haired teammates head, he himself didn't know exactly what would happen if both he and Sakura left but he knew it wouldn't be good. Finally Sakura came out of her thoughts " Why can't we just bring Naruto with us?" This was something Sasuke could not allow; he knew Orochimaru would do terrible things to Naruto because of his red chakra that kept surfacing throughout their life or death situations together. " No" Sakura gaped at that "Why not?" to which Sasuke snapped " We just can't, and starting now, if you want to survive out of the village you cannot be the pitiful kunochi you are now" Sasukes words were like daggers, but she knew he spoke the truth " I cannot be babysitting you, you will train and become a worthy kunochi" he knew it was a bad decision taking Sakura, but his need for companionship on his road surfaced and pushed any other thoughts out. "Come on then Sakura, you're leaving your life in the village behind. Team 7 is over. No more fun and games Sakura this is the shinobi world and its ruthless. Be prepared." Especially for Naruto he thought after his little spiel.

Sasuke began to continue walking out the village while Sakura was within her thought…She began questioning whether it was worth it, she loved Sasuke, but to just leave Naruto, the happ-go-lucky ball of energy of team 7 on his own didn't seem right…she just knew it was a bad idea especially since she knew that he was head over heels for her, it made her sick to her stomach what she was about to do. Yet she loved Sasuke so she followed on catching up to him and falling into step with him.

"I'm sorry Naruto" she barely whispered but Sasuke still heard and slightly grimaced. He now definitely knew everything was changed now.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:READ AND REVIEW READ AND REVIEW READ AND REVIEW!-just enjoy **___

The light shone through the Hokage towers high up windows down onto the Fifth Hokage herself. A blonde haired, amber-eyed beauty of a woman with a bust most women would kill for. Her garments consisted of a green jacket with the kanji for 'gamble' on the back of it. Underneath she had a blue sleeveless kimono and greyish blue pants to match. Right now she was in a world of trouble. Two of her genins had defected from her village, one under Orochimaru's influence and the other by 'love'. She didn't know which reason was stupider. She had been the Hokage for only a short time and shit has already hit the fan. She just knew the council was going to be on her back for this one, after all the precious Sharingan dojutsu had now officially left the village hidden in the leaves.

Yet her thoughts didn't dwell much on the traitors of team 7, but on the only genin member loyal to the village. One Uzumaki Naruto. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki. The only member of the team that had a real flight risk and possibility of defecting from the village _I wouldn't be surprised if he did leave this village after all this time, lucky this is MY Naruto were talking about._ She was worried sick about him. The next morning after it was found that the two members of team 7 had left the village it spread like wild fire and before she could issue a proper mission Naruto had rocketed off in search for his teammates. Without any elite chunin or jonin in the village because of shinobi shortage due to the sand and sound invasion there wasn't much she could do. But now she had ordered Shikamaru to gather the best genin he could and bring back team 7. She could only hope it could go well and that Naruto would be safe. She didn't know if she could take it if the boy ended up…_please be safe Naruto._

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(At the village gates)

Shikamaru had gathered the most exceptional shinobi of his generation in such a short time span that he didn't think it was as much of a drag as he initially thought. He had gathered Choji; his hard-hitting brutal fighting style would serve as their main offensive. Neji Hyuuga, a prodigy in the gentle fist and having some of the strongest 'All Seeing Eyes' in centuries, a defensive and offensive shinobi as well as a great scout. Lastly he had chosen Kiba Inuzuka, although a bit of a hot-head…ok he was all hot-headed but still, he had an offensive strength as great as Choji with his clan attacks and could track the members of team 7 with finesse. Finally him, the chunin leader of the squad and support/defensive with his shadow techniques. The squad assembled all complimented to create a full proof search and rescue squad. He only hoped the rescue part succeeded.

He looked on to his team with a bit of fear in his heart. He didn't want any of them to get hurt. All of this was on his shoulders…but he also was worried for the blonde haired comrade that everyone had grown to love over the years. Shikamaru always knew Naruto was a strong shinobi ever since the academy but the way the curriculum worked it was like it was against the knuckle-head. Now both his teammates had defected and Naruto was on a warpath through Hi no Kuni to stop his teammates. Intel said that Sasuke and Sakura were being escorted by Orochimaru's 'Sound Four', his elite shinobi. _What a drag you've gotten yourself into Naruto._

" Alright everyone, none of us here might not like Sasuke or even Sakura for what they have done, but they are still comrades of the leaf village…we must stop them from reaching the border of Hi no Kuni or our mission is over" he paused for breath watching the emotions go across the teams faces " Yet our main objective is to make sure we save Naruto before he crosses that border as well, for he will be breaking enough laws to possibly cause open warfare with our bordering countries-" Kiba interrupted " WHAT! But Naruto is just trying to save his teammates, I definitely would be doing what he is if I was in his shoes!" he finished with fervor. Neji looked at Kiba with his usual emotionless mask " Inuzuka, Nara is correct, although it is distasteful, we must stop Naruto before he also crosses the border as priority with the rest of team 7 being a secondary objective" he finished with quite a bit of venom. Ever since Naruto had literally beaten some sense into him he had come to think of his teammates as his family, and Naruto's family has just abandoned him, it left a disgusting taste in his mouth.

Shikamaru agreed with Neji's analysis "That's correct, now lets stop dawdling, as much of a drag as this will be we have to go full speed ahead. Choji stop eating now its time to get serious" he finished as an after thought. Choji looked a little sheepish but muttered his apologies. " Lets move out"

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(Same time, near the border of Hi no Kuni)

He had never been angrier in his entire life, not when the villagers scorned or attacked him, not when Orochimaru had attacked him or even when he thought Sasuke had died. This was by far the most infuriating thing that ever happened to him. Naruto Uzumaki's visage was untamed. His orange jacket had been ripped off from the burning red chakra that was enveloping him and his orange pants were in tatters at the ends. His hair was flailing around unkempt and his eyes blazing with red fury. He was a red blazing rocket flying through the forest, creating a warpath by the speeds he was exuding. The trees he was jumping off were exploding and some of the trees were catching on fire, he was moving so fast that Maito Gai would be jealous. He was using his now keen senses due to his Kyuubified mode to find his teammates that had supposedly defected.

He couldn't understand why they both wanted to leave the village, why would they just leave him behind and discard him like nothing. He thought they were family, weren't they? He had never had a real family but he believed when he got into team 7 that it was his family. Yet they had upped and left, his own family was trying to leave, well he wasn't going to let them!

Naruto was near flying through the forests of Hi no Kuni when he realized the scent was getting stronger, he picked up his speed, turning into a primal red blur damn near blasting everything behind him into oblivion. His now keen eyes could pick up his beloved Sakura's pink hair, her body was being lugged by another girl with red hair and a bandaged cap, if he wasn't in such a killing mood he would say she was quite the looker. As he was charging the others of the group also turned around, one was a big guy with an orange Mohawk carrying a barrel with kanji all over it. Another of them was a guy with two-heads, if he wasn't so angry right now he would of thought he was seeing things, but then it got worse when he saw another guy with 6 arms! Who the hell were Sakura and Sasuke getting into cohorts with for crying out loud?

After all of there eyes widened when they saw the moving tsunami of destruction that was Naruto blaze over them and land directly in their path with a boom and all the wind and debris scattered in all directions going into the sound ninjas bodies as they all stopped and got into defensive stances. " Who the fuck is this shithead?" all but screamed the red head, "Tayuya ladies shouldn't swear like-" the big guy begun to say until he was rudely interrupted by the same red-head "Shut the fuck up fat-arse we are looking at a possible threat so grow a dick and get prepared".

The other members of what Naruto would later learn was the 'Sound Four' were quiet and calculating until the one with two heads spoke up " Who are you and what do you want? Judging by that hitai-ate you are konoha-nin, you here for these two?" Naruto's blazing eyes looked up and the sound four unconsciously backed up as they saw the silouhette of a giant fox behind the blonde enigma until they were broken from their feared states when he answered " Give me back Sasuke and Sakura and I will not destroy you…" Being the biggest, thinking he could easily overpower Naruto, Jirobu the big guy put down the barrel containing you know who and stating " You are trash, step aside or die" Naruto looked at him and narrowed all his features crouching into a pouncing position "Wrong answer!" he rocketed off with his ultra-enhanced strength and put his entire fist through Jirobu's body.

The others were gawking at the show of speed, ruthlessness and power! "What the fuck! Guys don't piss around go into cursed mark stage 1 now and deal with him, Orochimaru will fuck us over if this cunt isn't dealt with fast" the others readily agreeing with her activated their cursed states. What ensued was a blood bath…

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(A short time later, Sakura perspective)

Her vision was hazed and her memory was too, she was trying to remember what the hell had happened. First her and Sasuke had left the village only to be intercepted by those 'Sound Four', who pledged their loyalty to Sasuke in a heart beat, but that red haired one readily abused Sakura openly with no restraints, which hurt a little. After 5 hours of constant running they had stopped and put Sasuke in that barrel, she protested readily until she was knocked out! She could hear battle cries and the ground was shaking her from her reverie. She blearily blinked her eyes and sat up fast " SASUKE-KUN?" yet her voice was not heard from all the noise. Then her eyes widened at what she was seeing. Everywhere around her was destroyed and flattened to a near wasteland. She was lying next to the barrel that Sasuke was put in and her mind tunnel visioned! She attempted to break the barrel but to no avail suddenly she heard the roar of " RASENGAN!" she quickly turned to the sound to see the one called Sakon, or was it Ukon? She didn't know but she didn't really care as a red-tinged ball of swirling chakra that was held by, oh kami that was held by Naruto! Absolutely obliterated the Sakon/Ukon!

She looked around more, now attentive of her environment and saw the others of Sound Four critically injured or out cold hold the big guy called Jirobu who was definitely dead _did Naruto do this all by himself? _After seeing the bodies hanging over all assortments of broken trees and rocks she saw what she thought was an avenging angel coming down from the heavens to smite her, only to realize it was Naruto Uzumaki dropping from his position in the air with a light landing sound. He just stood in the same position with his eyes closed until he finally dropped to his knees until he coughed up some blood, he looked back up straight into Sakuras eyes, his deep cerulean pools that seemed just as endless as the sea. He suddenly croaked out "S-Sa-Sakura-Chan" and slowly started crawling toward her, each couple of movements he would wince in pain.

This made Sakura sick to her stomach just the lengths Naruto would go for her and Sasuke. She wasn't so sure if going with Sasuke would be such a good idea. She was pulled out of her thoughts when Naruto was directly in front of her with his hand outstretched about to rest on her knee looking up into her eyes as she gazed down into his " Why Sakura-Chan...It doesn't matter" he mustered one of his smiles, she didn't know how, but even after such a bloody ordeal Naruto could always keep his beaming smile. It was one of the only constants in her life.

She was really lost for words now, but she didn't have to think of any as a teenager in a white loose hanging kimono with two dots on his forehead and silver hair with bangs framing his face dropped down to her side and stabbed the sword through Naruto's side. Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't scream, he bit down the pain and gasped out " Sakura, run!" now her eyes widened, damaged beyond belief and his still protective of her, it made her blood run cold that she was abandoning him. She nearly didn't want to _but I love Sasuke-kun! _

Don't worry, I am not going to hurt her…but you on the other hand…you are trying to stop Orochimaru's newest" he paused thinking of the appropriate word to say around the young kunochi " apprentice" _more like vessel, like I was supposed to be before this pathetic disease _" Girl, take the barrel and continue on towards the Valley of the End to pass the border" Sakura was frozen after the scary teenager had addressed her with orders, she was so torn of what to do until a strong killing intent from the teenager was directed at her and she looked up towards him to see a sword that looked like it was crafted from bone between her eyes "Did I not make it clear girl?" he finished with venom. This scared her to death and she got up and was now struggling to lug the barrel on to her back.

Naruto meanwhile was blinking back tears of anger and pain from the overall damage he had sustained as well as the fact that his only family was going to get away! "Sakura please no!" he croaked out, but to no avail. She had already started running away with tears streaming down her face. " Don't worry boy, I am going to end your pitiful misery and help Orochimaru obtain his goals simultaneously!"

Before he could end the blonde boys life he was forced backwards by a humongous chakra explosion that singed off some of his clothes "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO!" Naruto screamed with primal fury. The blade that was in his leg had been forced out and was healing at immense speeds. The rest of his wounds were quick to follow until a fully revitalized and 1 tailed powered kyuubified Naruto went on all fours ready to decimate the white-haired Kaguya.

"So" Kimmimaro started " You defeated the Sound Four single-handedly? Not an easy feat, but I am much more powerful than those imbecile weaklings" the bone manipulator got into a stance and prepared for a heavy assault, and heavy assault he got as Narutos rage fueled his power as he rushed forward at immense speeds and started a clawed taijutsu frenzy as Kimmimaro began parrying and deflecting the iron like claws from ripping his face off. Naruto while doing a downward slash brought a red chakra powered claw with his will to go even further than he physically could and smashed Kimmimaro into the ground with breaking force, lucky the Kaguya wasn't born into a Kekkai Genkai for nothing!

Naruto started pacing on two legs now, waiting for his prey to get back up, he was now in full predator mode and this man was not getting away alive. Kimmimaro had started getting up and coughed up a bit of blood " you are much more formidable than I initially thought but the outcome is still the same" and with that black tattoo like seals began to spread across his body and his chakra levels started rising higher and higher. "Let me introduce you to my cursed seal stage 1, I believe this will be enough to do away with you"

As he finished saying that he darted forward at speeds that easily surpassed his prior movement and punched Naruto directly in the face forcing him into the air. " I'll finish this quickly" _the disease is fast approaching my demise I must get back to Kabuto to further my life span _He darted forward at his newly gained speed and strengthen his bone sword to high density to finish the job, and as he was about to end the boys life, a wall of sand had stopped his blade! After that happened the powerful flurry of wind blasts knocked him far back and he crashed into the ground multiple times. The sand receded and three figures landed down next to the fallen Naruto.

Naruto looked up to see none other then Sabaku no Gaara and his two siblings along side him prepped for battle " Uzumaki Naruto, it appears we arrived on time"


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Hello Fanfictioners! Regarding some of your reviews THANKS A BUNCH **____** It actually makes me want to write.**_

_**Cairn Ramius- Thanks for the compliment and for updating, I'm going to start trying to knock them out really fast as in about 3-4 weeks I have exams so I might have a week of downtime but after that I will be consistent until the end of this behemoth.**_

_**To other peoples reviews of praise thanks a tonne it just makes me want to write.**_

_**Also in this fiction I'm going to give Naruto a water affinity as well as wind, you will see later on **____**WITHOUT FURTHER ADEIU **_

(Near the border of Hi no Kuni)

"SHIKAMARU! I got something and its strong" Kiba Inuzuka yelled to alert the whole search and rescue squad "What is it?" Shikamaru replied seriously, no need for laziness now "It's blood and sweat and there is a lot of it, my nose is getting irritated by it". Shikamaru hoped to God it wasn't Naruto they were going to find disemboweled and all over the forest floor. " Ok lead on Kiba and pick up the speed, everyone use one soldier pill incase we engage an enemy, we've been running on willpower for the last hour can't risk getting injured now"

Running at top speed the team could now see a path of destruction running parallel to them! How could we have not noticed it? They must have been following at a different angle because now they were merging with the this tsunami of destruction, there was trees broken and the ground had light fires still going!

" Holy shit what the hell did this? I can feel an overbearing and evil chakra residue left around the area that keeps going on!" Shikamaru racked his brain for any ideas as to what it is " It could possibly be that cursed power that Orochimaru granted Sasuke in the Chunin exams that he could of given to his subordinates?" the answer didn't seem right to him thought? This thought was proven "

No Shikamaru that power is WAY weaker in comparison to this, that foul chakra is only a small pulse on my senses, this chakra residue kind of reminds…me…holy shit! This is like when Naruto owned Neji at the chunin exams!" Neji at the back of the group scowled at this but didn't respond. Shikamaru meanwhile was connecting dots that weren't sounding good _if Naruto is what I think he is and this chain of events has set him off then this is definitely above our pay grade, what a drag! _

"Neji, I know you've been using your Byakugan none stop for the last couple of hours but I'm going to need you to activate it for a short-period and see as far down this path as you can, can you do it?" Shikamaru didn't bother to look at him " Affirmative" and a small mumble of Byakugan was heard.

Neji zoomed in down the path and couldn't believe the complete annihilation; it was like looking down a tornado's aftermath! He kept zooming down until he could see the end of the path where a massive circle where he assumed was the epicenter of whoever made this path stopped. In the mini wasteland he could see downed people, from this distance he couldn't completely recognize them but could tell their chakra was gone or about to be gone-equaling death.

"Nara the path ends in about 1.1 kilometres northwest and there are unidentified bodies that are dead or about to be" Shikamaru paused at this and suddenly kicked up the speed. The rest followed soundlessly, only one minute of running over destroyed terrain and they had reached the wasteland that must have been a titanic battlefield. As they scoured the surroundings they saw what they knew were the dead bodies of the proclaimed 'Sound Four' _well looks like …someone took care of them _

"Shika…I'm scared" came the mumbled and frightful Akimichi boy " Choji I'm sorry but we are shinobi and you are going to have to man-up for this one, nothing good is going to come out of this, I can feel it" Shikamaru added quietly to his long time friend.

They all suddenly heard coughing and looked to see the girl of the group slightly alive, the team looked at each other and slowly walked defensively as a group towards her. Shikamaru was the closest and knelt down and looked at the disheveled redhead. She coughed up a bit of blood and was hardly keeping her eyes open.

" What happened here?" Shikamaru cautiously asked, although he had a good idea he needed first hand evidence. " W-we-ell shithead*cough* that b-blonde *****cough* beat the shit out of us *cough* for apparently taking his *cough* friends" Shikamaru frowned at the shithead part but nodded at the rest.

"Alright guys-" Shikamaru was suddenly interrupted by the slight sounds of fighting then a huge **BOOOOOOM**

"Guys, lets go!" they quickly hurried off not wanting to give the dying girl a second glance

As they followed the sounds they got louder and louder until they suddenly stopped. "What the hell?" voiced Kiba _guess the battle is over now! UNFAIR! _

As they broke through the trees what the saw was the most confusing thing ever. Everywhere they could see was just a…a…forest of BONES! Huge pillars of bone were sticking up out of the ground everywhere.

When the group looked up even further they saw none other then Sabaku no Gaara and his siblings floating on Gaara's own sand with a half dome defending them from a bone sword protruding from a ghastly looking and DEFINETELY dead teenage boy that was protruding from another bone, talk about weird!

The sand slowly lowered the three siblings down to the ground. With a thump all three of them landed on their backsides from the exhaustion of the fight, even if all of them were backing each other up.

"What the hell is going on" Kiba voiced the opinion of all the Konoha nin. Gaara after catching his breath replied in his usual monotonous voice " Your Kage sent a messenger to us asking for aid in stopping Uzumaki from crossing the border and also aiding in the retrieval of his teammates" his other two siblings nodding to confirm his proclamation.

"So where is Naruto then?" asked Shikamaru to which Temari answered " Well."

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(FLASHBACK-NARUTO PERSPECTIVE)

The sand trio had saved him from this bone freak! As our Blonde jinchuuriki looked up and saw Gaara, it made him crack a true smile for the first time in a while. His brother in arms or demon container in arms was here for his aid. It made his heart warm that he had a person he connect with so deeply.

"GAARA! Thanks for the back up, this scum-bag would of definitely put me down for the count!" he finished with a face-splitting grin. Temari giggled light-heartedly at the blonde's antics towards her brother, ever since he had single-handedly fixed their family the boy had really grown on her. Kankuro saw the giggles and nudged his sister "so already got the hots for the blonde ey?" to which he got a battle-fan smack to the head.

After the shenanigans were over Naruto quickly got up off the ground and his recently returned shocking blue eyes started to swirl back into its blood red counter-part "Gaara, I can trust you to take care of this guy, I need to stop my teammates" Gaara didn't have to verbally reply, they could communicate on a whole different level, they understood each other, so when they nodded to each other it meant 'stay safe'.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM!" Kiba voiced yet another outburst that was really grating on everyone's nerves, but Gaara paid no heed and with a simple quip said " He and I owe you nothing , his decisions are his own as are mine"

Shikimaru disregared the little argument that was brewing until literally obscene amounts of chakra was being thrown around in the direction of the Valley of the End. "Everyone we need to move NOW!" and thus the unlikely group ran for their blonde comrade/friend.

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(Naruto Perspective, at the end of the fated Sasuke fight)

Naruto was in a frenzy, he had grown a 2nd tail and his power output was enormous, but Sasukes evolved curse seal wasn't far behind. They had traded blows in their monster-powered forms but now the fight was coming to its climax. Naruto knew this would be the end, but he would try to change it, he loved team 7 like a family and he was not going to allow Orochimaru or revenge take it away!

"Sasuke! This is your last chance, I WON'T let that snake teme take you and Sakura-chan away from me! And I certainly won't let your revenge ruin yours AND Sakura's life!"

Sasuke just looked at him with his changed form with disgust, but also understanding, he knew taking Sakura with him would be like ripping out the dobes only source of familial comfort, but he was sick of being alone, he wasn't going to leave the village for power on his own! "No Naruto, I am going to destroy Itachi, it is my destiny to bring righteous retribution to my fallen kin! And I if Sakura wants to join me then so be it!"

Naruto just looked at him with understanding as well, as hard as it was to decifer with their demonic appearances. "Well teme, I'm gonna have to break every bone in your body to bring you back HOME!"

Both teammates…no…brothers, started to channel their respective jutsu. Yet one small detail they missed was their other teammate running across the lake straight at them, screaming bloody murder for them to stop fighting.

The boys screamed battle cries and charged! Both staring each other right in the eyes, determined to win for their respective causes, but also to find out who was stronger! Yet as they bore down on each other, Naruto noticed in the corner of his fox like eyes that Sakura was a mere 10 metres away and would be caught in the cross fire, instantly his eyes diverted from Sasuke and slowly changed back to their deep blue colour, this startled Sasuke, but he couldn't stop, and the loud "CHIDORI" came as well as an evil crunching and squeltching of bone and meat being eviscerated.

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(Sakura perspective, same time)

She had been watching her closest people in her life right now, fighting to the death, one for revenge, power and retribution while the other fought for his 'family' and precious people to him. Although she loved Sasuke, she realized Naruto's cause was much more plausible. Yet aside from that, she had always believed that Sasuke was light years ahead of Naruto, don't get her wrong she knew Naruto was strong in his own right but now she understood just how much the supposed 'dead last' had grown. She watched in the beginning as they traded blows as equals, but then Naruto had pulled on an unseen power and started pummeling Sasuke, actually forcing his Sharingan to mature to its fullest (to her current knowledge). The fight escalated until finally her Sasuke-kun had used the curse seal again, but this time he turned into a demonic looking angel, it was both frightening and endearing.

She honestly for once in her life on team 7 couldn't choose to side with Sasuke OR Naruto, she was stuck at a crossroads. She didn't want either to hurt each other. So her rational mind came up with the great idea of running head first into their final, and most devastating attacks.

Time seemed to slow down to a snails pace, as she ran and screamed for them to stop, she saw the look Naruto and Sasuke had for each other, it was like that of rivals but also of deep understanding, she saw all the pain and loneliness each respectively suffered from their eyes alone and it made her realize she didn't understand either of her teammates at all!

And when she was only seconds away from them both, Naruto's red aura started to dissipate as well as his ball of chakra, Sakura turned and looked at him directly in his eyes and saw his fear, she had come directly in their path, Naruto had time to stop but Sasuke had tunnel vision when using the chidori. Sakura just closed her eyes and couldn't believe the irony of her dying to Sasuke's chidori.

As she felt the lighting blade about to pierce her it was all silent, she could hear nothing, but suddenly she felt weightless, like she was being carried to heaven…or hell, but she felt arms holding her up. She slowly opened her eyes to stare into pools of pure cerulean, like the ocean looking at her like it was the last time they could. She could also feel a hot wetness near her, she looked and saw a hand jutting out of Naruto's upper right chest, straight through his lung!

He had taken the chidori for her. She couldn't fathom it and started to feel immense pain in her heart and began leaking tears, looking back into Narutos eyes, that were dimming and then coming back, with pure willpower. And as she looked into Naruto's eyes she was pulled out of the complete silence by Naruto "Please don't cry Sakura-chan, it always hurts when you cry…" he rasped out with deep breaths.

Sasukes hand came out of Naruto, and he had a look of pure shock on his face, he had just embedded his lighting enveloped fist into his best friend, and he was STILL worried about Sakura crying. If she didn't miraculously fall in love with Naruto after that then there had got to be something wrong with women these days. But the shock was two-folded with the fact that he just slammed his fist into NARUTO. He didn't want this to happen! He wanted to test his power with Naruto's new jutsu, to see who was the strongest. Now his friend might…might…die…

Naruto lowered Sakura to the water to allow her to stand and fell to his knees, still having to channel chakra to stay afloat. Sakura quickly came to Narutos aid before he fell into the water. "Why Naruto, Why did you have to do that!" she said in between sobs while she held his still heavily bleeding body. Sasuke just watched on already understanding why, but still shell shocked with all that happened. Yet he steeled his resolve. He needed to defeat his brother, his whole life was for that purpose. Naruto would have back up coming. And like that he heard it, people running and shouting Naruto's names in the forest just behind the Valley of the End.

"NARUTO! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT!" Sakura sobbed out loudly, to which Naruto got to finally answer "Because…I love you" yet when Sakura heard this, she just sobbed more, she couldn't handle this, she knew Naruto liked her, but loved her? She didn't know anyone that would damn near kill himself for her! "BAKA! BAKA BAKA BAKA!" she continued to sob.

Sasuke was getting impatient and worried about the reinforcements " Sa-sakura, please stop crying, you need to go, if you go back to the village you will be jailed or executed…and I don't think can beat the whole village by myself hehehe" Sakura was horrified at first for the fact that her village would do that to her but understood. She also giggled at Naruto's last remark as he begun to wipe away her tears with his thumbs "Sasuke" he called to which said person grunted " Look after Sakura" he nodded in return and Sakura had to gently put Naruto down so he could still channel chakra for when the reinforcements arrived to pick him up off the lake. As Sakura and Sasuke began to run away Naruto yelled out with his last bit of energy " I'm going to find you both and drag you back! Because I never go back on my word! THAT'S MY NINDO!"

This brought tears to her eyes, no matter how friendly they had seemed in the end, they had still betrayed Naruto terribly, and she was now confused of her feelings for the blonde-haired knuckle-head.

And as his two teammates disappeared past Madara Uchiha's head the search and rescue squad+ the sand trio burst through the forest on to the scene. They saw the devastation that was left in Sasuke and Naruto's wake with awe, except for Gaara, no battle scene could awe him after his titanic battle with the blonde jinchuuriki.

After they looked for the said blonde they realized he was slowly sinking into the lake. Gaara quickly reacted and lifted him by his hand out with his sand and saw the gaping whole in his chest and his eyes basically devoid of life. For the first time since he fought with Naruto he was in deep fear. And for completely different reasons. Naruto was in a VERY VERY critical condition. Gaara was feeling an emotion he thought he could never feel. Worry.


End file.
